New York billionaire Leon Black revealed as buyer of Edvard Munch's The Scream - sold for a record-breaking $120 MILLION

When Edvard Munch's masterpiece The Scream sold at auction in May for a record-breaking $120million, many wondered who the mystery buyer was.

It has now been revealed that New York billionaire Leon Black is the proud owner of the painting, one of four in the world and the only one in America.

During a 12-minute auction at Sothebys, Black was up against eight other bidders from the U.S. and China but it became clear towards the end who would be the one to go home with it as his bids came quickly and without hesitation.

Record: Billionaire Leon Black, right, bought The Scream for $120million at auction in May

Bidding started at $40million and once the total got past $80 million, the other bidders started dropping off.

According to the Wall Street Journal,when the bidding crossed the $100
million mark, an auction first, auctioneer Tobias Meyer said: 'Can I say I love you.'

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Black, 60, who is worth $3.5billion, is an avid art collector and speculation has now shifted to what he is going to do with the work - a pastel which has been reproduced on posters and t-shirts the world over.

It is one of four versions of the work made by Munch between 1893 and 1910, the other three - all paintings - remain in his native home of Norway.

Masterpiece: Edvard Munch's The Scream is auctioned at Sotheby's on May 2 in New York City and was bought by Leon Black for a record-breaking $119.9million

Auction: The buyer of The Scream in pastel was unknown until now, as Mr Black did all his bidding by phone and was up against four other buyers from the U.S. and China

Leon Black, center, with his wife Debra, right, and Nancy Marks: The billionaire's lavish art spending has transformed the international art market

The pastel version is the first to come up at auction and has never been displayed in the UK or the U.S. before - except briefly in the National Gallery in Washington D.C. decades ago.

EDVARD MUNCH'S THE SCREAM

Norwegian Edward Munch created four versions of The Scream between 1893 and 1910 - three paintings and one pastel.

It is one of the world's most recognized paintings and depicts a skeletal figure holding his face in his hands dressed in blue.

He stands at a popular suicide spot on an Oslo bay where people could often hear screams
from a nearby insane asylum, according to art historians.

The three other versions - including two that were stolen and later recovered - are in museums in Norway.

This version is distinguished in several ways: it is the most colorful and vibrant of the four, the only version whose original frame was hand-painted by the artist to include his poem detailing the work's inspiration and the only version in which one of the two figures in the background turns to look outward onto the cityscape.

It is said to be more colorful than the other three and the only one where the men in the background are looking out to sea.

The financier sits on the boards of New
York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art and
there will undoubtedly be a tug-of-war about where the painting will end
up.

Mr Black already owns a $750million collection of art, according to the Wall Street Journal, including drawings by Vincent van Gogh and Raphael, cubist paintings by Picasso and watercolors by J.M.W. Turner.

Norwegian real-estate developer and shipping heir Petter Olsen sold the work to fund a hotel and museum of Munch's work near the Norwegian fiord where the artist painted.

His father was a neighbor of Munch's.

Mr Black is number 107 on the Forbes 400 list. He is the lead partner of buyout shop Apollo Global Management, which has $75 billion in assets under management, according to Forbes.

According to dealers, his art work hangs in his home rather than museums and he is said to own a vast collection spanning many art forms.

His fascination with the art world began as a teenager when he started colelcting drawings of Paul Cezanne, van Gogh and others.